The Cassandra Page

"And indeed, the burden of Cassandra's "gift" is evident in mythology. She predicted the outcome of many disastrous events. In one memorable example, Cassandra announced the dire consequences of the Trojans accepting the infamous Wooden Horse from their Greek opponents. But as Apollo made certain, no one believed Cassandra when she warned her companions about the future. And this, in the end, was to be Cassandra's tragic fate."

Now Dan Rooney has been conspicuously noncommittal about Ben Roethlisberger in the face of a scandal in which quarterback Ben Roethlisberger somehow avoided criminal charges in Georgia. Rooney refused to defend Roethlisberger, preferring instead to praise the backup quarterback regarding the backup's charitable work in Pittsburgh:

"My job is in Ireland," added Rooney, now the U.S. ambassador to that country, indicating that the team in his absence is run by his son, president Art Rooney II, along with coach Mike Tomlin and director of player personnel Kevin Colbert. "I would just say that it's a serious matter. And it's being handled properly with Art, Mike and Kevin Colbert. I think they're handling it very well. The commissioner as you know saw Ben [in New York Tuesday]. I don't have any more to say."

Asked about the general behavior his family expects from Steelers, Rooney -- standing with state AFL-CIO officers, his son, Jim, and Steelers backup quarterback Charlie Batch -- said: "I think the players have to be special. And we have a special man here in Charlie, what he's done, what his foundation does as far as children in this community is exemplary. That's the way it should be. Everybody makes mistakes. But I don't even want to talk about that."

The Steelers' (and Dan Rooney's) attitude toward Roethlisberger stands in marked contrast to a different incident in the 1970's when one of the Steelers was arrested for shooting a police officer. In 1973, defensive tackle Ernie Holmes fired a gun at trucks on the highway and a police helicopter, wounding one officer and endangering the entire helicopter crew. After a large manhunt, Holmes surrendered. Dan Rooney was supportive of his tackle in that case:

This time the Steelers helped him out. [Coach Chuck] Noll and Dan Rooney went to the jail where he [Holmes] was being held and the Chief [Dan's father Art] visited him nearly every day in the Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital, where he stayed for almost two months. He pleaded guilty on three counts of intent to kill and was placed on five years probation.

The Rooneys' support of Holmes was very public and contributed to the Rooneys' image as "caring" owners. Ernie Holmes was never suspended.

So Dan Rooney stands by a man who shot a policeman (and pled guilty) only to abandon his quarterback who was charged with nothing. As another Post-Gazette columnist noted:

There also is pressure on the Steelers -- again, some of it racial -- to come down hard on Roethlisberger.

Whether the Rooneys are simply yielding to racial pressure or are determined to make the Steelers into an affirmative action football team, the effect is the same. While I do not defend Roethlisberger, make no mistake that the Steelers' choice of who to discipline is based not on moral outrage, but the kind of political calculation that landed Dan Rooney in Ireland.